By Jon Cook TORONTO, May 17 (Reuters) - Canadian stocks ended afour-session slide on Thursday, eking out a modest gain, as astrong performance from gold miners offset financial losses onsoft U.S. economic data and mounting worries about Greece andEurope's fragile banking sector. Canada's sub-index of gold mining firms jumped nearly 6percent as gold rallied for its largest one-day gain since lateJanuary. Gold's move allowed the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSXcomposite index to outperform U.S. stocks, which hit afour-month low on Thursday. "We've performed better than the U.S. markets today, whichhas not been the case for much of 2012 to this point," saidCraig Fehr, Canadian market strategist at Edward Jones in St.Louis. Canada's top gold producers, Barrick Gold andGoldcorp, led the day's gains, both rising 6.9 percent tofinish at C$38.16 and C$35.48, respectively. Smaller miners alsojumped, with Eldorado Gold rising 5.8 percent toC$11.01 and Yamana Gold climbing 4.5 percent toC$13.79. Gold was also boosted by Wednesday's release of the U.S.Federal Reserve's minutes from its most recent meeting in whichpolicymakers kept alive the possibility of a fresh round ofmonetary stimulus for the moderately expanding U.S. economy.

"Gold for a very long time now has been reflecting theextremely easy monetary policies of the Fed and other centralbanks around the world," said Fehr. Weak U.S. data on Thursday supported the case for furthermonetary easing. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said itsindex gauging factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic regionunexpectedly dropped to a reading of minus 5.8 in May,indicating contraction and the lowest level since lastSeptember. Meanwhile, new U.S. jobless claims were flat at370,000, slightly disappointing market expectations.

The TSX finished virtually flat, up a mere 4.6 points, or0.04 percent, at 11,330.68. It touched a session high at11,421.83, a day after hitting a seven-month low at 11,298.46. Thursday's gains were muted by jitters over politicalturmoil in Athens, where politicians rejecting harsh austeritymeasures are likely to win June 17 elections. Wednesday's moveby the European Central Bank to stop providing liquidity to someGreek banks added to the pressure. "What's dominating the markets is fear of an uncontrolledGreek exit from the euro," said Fergal Smith, managing marketstrategist at Action Economics. Worries about Spanish banks also resurfaced after a mediareport said customers of Bankia had withdrawn morethan 1 billion euros ($1.27 billion) from their accounts in thepast week. The Spanish government said there had been no suchexit of deposits. Canadian financial issues, which could be vulnerable ifGreece were to suffer a disorderly default, fell 1.6 percent.Toronto-Dominion Bank slid 1.6 percent to C$77.65 andRoyal Bank of Canada shed 2 percent to C$51.96. RBC's drop came after a report that Canada's largest bankwas among a group of suitors which have put in initial bids tobuy the non-U.S. wealth management business of Bank of America in a deal that could be worth about $2 billion, sourcessaid. Smith saw Thursday's boost being short-lived and expectedthe TSX would eventually test last year's low of 10,848.19,reached on Oct. 4, before staging a larger rally. "The market will see increased support as that trough comesinto view."